Subspecies18:49 Dec 04 2007
Times Read: 1,147
Bloodstone: Subspecies 2 (Epic Collection)
(Full Moon Pictures / R1 NTSC DVD)
Review by Annie Riordan
You know what? FUCK all of you pretty boy vampires! Yeah, that’s right, I said it! Wanna hear me say it again? FUCK ALL of you pretty boy, sulky ass, whiny shit, velvet draped, lace ruffled, and tragedy milking bloodsuckers! If I wanted to hear a crybaby whine, I’d visit my sister’s preschool class. What the hell do you have to whine about, anyway? You’ll never get sick or old, you’ll never die and you can sleep all day without having to worry about insomnia. So what, exactly, is the goddamned problem?
Oh, and fuck all of you pseudo-ninja, latex-wearing, uber-Matrix, kung-fu kick ass vampires too. I’m not impressed, I don’t care what clan you belong to and you can stick your Marilyn Manson contact lenses right up your undead ass.
Whatever happened to REAL vampires? Unapologetic, pasty faced ghouls who creep around castles at midnight and plunge their fangs into the porcelain throats of young, pretty girls? I’m talking about Max Schreck’s Nosferatu and Mr. Barlow of Salem’s Lot (the original, not Rutger Hauer and his gravity defying hairdo). Those guys weren’t pretty, they didn’t know jujitsu, they didn’t own any guns and they didn’t need to. That’s the kind of vampire I can appreciate - an ugly, parasitic bastard who takes pleasure in his bloodfeeding and couldn’t give a shit less about leather pants or hair care products.
In 1991, the film Subspecies paid homage to Nosferatu in the character of Radu Vladislas, a thoroughly evil, eternally drooling, rat faced bastard of a vampire with skeletal hands and a voice like a cancer victim who hasn’t kicked the ten pack a day habit yet. Subspecies was cheap and featured a cast of mostly unknowns, but it was beautiful nevertheless. Filmed on location in Romania, it boasted a rich, Gothic atmosphere, a haunting score and a strong, original storyline. Oh sure, it featured a young, half-vampire pretty boy named Stefan who was supposed to be the hero and love interest, but two years later, in 1993, the real hero of the Subspecies series emerged and claimed his crown.
Picking up the very next day, Bloodstone; Subspecies 2 opens in the gloomy post-violence of Castle Vladislas, where the dead bodies of Radu’s vampire brides lay bloody and decapitated. Radu himself has had his head recently separated from his neck, but this is only a minor setback. The Subspecies, tiny little devil men birthed from Radu’s fingertips in the first film, come to the rescue. With his head soon reattached, Radu pops open Stefan’s coffin, kills his brother with a very long stake and reclaims the Bloodstone, the Vladislas family heirloom which drips the blood of saints and grants enormous power to the one who feeds from it. Radu isn’t done yet, however. In a second coffin lies newly transformed vampire Michelle, Stefan’s girlfriend. Radu is about to skewer her as well when the rising sun drives him down into the cellar and Michelle is spared, for the time being.
Upon the next sunset, Radu picks up where he left off. But Michelle is already gone, having fled the Castle with the Bloodstone in her hands. Radu easily follows the girl to Bucharest, where Michelle places a frantic call to her sister Rebecca in America. Becky arrives in record time, only to be informed that her sister Michelle is missing. Found dead in her hotel room that morning,
Michelle was taken away in a meat wagon, but woke up inside of her body bag at sunset and took off running, leaving the Bloodstone behind. Becky teams up with a handsome young American Embassy dude named Mel and the Van Helsing-ish Mr. Popescu, an odd little man who has been researching the Vladislas legend and the Bloodstone for years.
Meanwhile, back at the graveyard, Radu has reunited with his “Mummy,” a bitchy old hag whose parents were apparently a lawn gnome and a leather saddlebag. Mummy orders Radu to kill Michelle and bring her the Bloodstone, but Radu wants to make the pretty Michelle his fledgling and keep her for himself. Michelle, in the meantime, discovers that she sucks at being a vampire (no pun intended) when her first messy kill causes her to vomit up the blood she so badly needs. She calls her sister again, begging for help, and receives the Bloodstone from a frightened and confused Rebecca, only to have it taken away again by Radu. Michelle wants nothing to do with the slobbering pervert, but Radu won’t take no for an answer. He is determined to make Michelle his own, even if he has to threaten Becky’s life to do it.
Bloodstone: Subspecies 2 is a great sequel to the original Subspecies, remaining true to its Gothic origins and allowing its cast of characters to grow and evolve. Denice Duff, replacing Laura Tate as the new Michelle, is really great, making Michelle a helpless and frightened victim but also a coldly determined huntress who cannot deny her newfound urges. She is both attracted to and repelled by Radu, but she never once considers throwing away her immortality. Anders Hove as Radu IS Radu; I never look at him and think: “Oh, it’s that guy from General Hospital.” He absolutely inhabits his role and makes Radu a disgusting, reprehensible but also a very pitiable creature. His burgeoning love for Michelle is pathetic, and we know it will never be reciprocated, but sometimes, we kinda wish it would be...just a little. Radu is a return to the genuine movie monster, the wholly evil creature that must be destroyed. And yet, he makes you like him. Despite the drool, the pasty gargoyle face and the fingers capable of killing a girl with a single fingerbang, Radu is irresistible. He is exactly what a vampire should be.
Filmed on location once again in Romania, Bloodstone: Subspecies 2 is a gorgeous movie. Yes, it’s cheap, it’s badly acted in places and downright silly in others, but it’s a helluva lot better than most of the bloodsucking cinema being churned out these days. It remains an homage to the bygone days of aristocratic beasts with unashamed appetites. Fans of Nosferatu and the Hammer School of Vampires in particular will appreciate Subspecies and its respectful return to the origins of vampirism on film.
Lestat? Selene? Yeah, even you Blade. Take some lessons from Radu and give him the respect he deserves. Subspecies is one of the best damn vampire offerings on celluloid, and if Nosferatu is the King of the Vampires, then Radu is his only rightful heir. Subspecies deserves to be re-discovered. Yeah, it IS that good.
COMMENTS
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hellseeker
16:11 Jan 12 2008
well DUH i know that already lol RADU :)